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Don't feel like cooking? Pull up a seat at Shree Restaurant and treat yourself to a taste of India.
Both low-fat and gluten-free options are available here.
Order a bottle for the table if you like — Shree Restaurant has a full bar stocked with the best wine, beer, and more.
Shree Restaurant is a terrific spot for families to gather with its kid-friendly ambience and menu.
Wifi here is on the house.
Be sure to make reservations so you can get seated right away.
No need to be formal, business casual will pass.
Love the food so much you want to serve it at your next soiree? No problem — Shree Restaurant offers catering.
Sometimes you need food fast, and Shree Restaurant totally gets it, offering both takeout and delivery.
Score a street, valet or garage parking spot near Shree Restaurant.
A meal at Shree Restaurant will typically set you back about $30.
You can stop by at practically any time, since Shree Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It’s a wonder the staffers at Protein Bar have time to do anything but smile for the camera amid the maelstrom of media attention the eatery has received in recent years. The man at the center of the storm is founder Matt Matros, dubbed one of Crain’s Chicago Business’s most successful 40 Under 40 in 2012. Matros spend his youth struggling with his weight, and lost his father to a heart attack before his 22nd birthday. The shock sparked a renewed hunger for life in the young executive, who went on to shed 50 pounds through exercise and healthy eating. Along the way, Matt noticed a gaping hole in the world of fast food—where were the healthy options? He decided to throw his corporate career to the wind and pour his entire life savings into opening the first Protein Bar, a welcoming haven for the health-conscious eater.
Matros’ business soon flourished into eight Chicago locations, with three more in D.C. His aim was to cut out the junk that pervades fast-food chains—refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, empty calories, and unsettling cartoon characters—and replace it with lean protein, heart-healthy fiber, and satisfying flavor. The menu accomplishes just that. At breakfast, bowls are filled with oatmeal deemed some of the finest in the city by CBS Chicago. As the hours wear on, a special mix of six types of veggies builds each salad into a powerhouse of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Bar-ritos swap out calorie-heavy rice for quinoa and flour tortillas for hearty whole-wheat wraps. Signature blended drinks omit sugary additives for protein mixes and fruit, each named for a Chicago neighborhood, and bowls of warm, organic quinoa come topped with protein and fresh produce.

Published author and raw-food advocate Karyn Calabrese has spent decades educating people on the benefits of an uncooked but flavorful diet free of meat, fish, chicken, or dairy products. In a recent interview for the Chicago Tribune, Calabrese traced her culinary interests back to Sundays in the kitchen with her grandmother. After watching family members succumb to degenerative diseases, she was inspired to tread a different nutritional path. Calabrese has shared her vegan and vegetarian cooking techniques in numerous media, including CBS and ABC news. Four restaurants currently bear her name, vegan philosophy, and commitment to organic foods: Fresh Corner and Garden Cafe, Fresh Corner and Raw Bistro, Cooked, and On Green.
The café and market offer eco-conscious shoppers a range of products, and Karyn's Inner Beauty Center provides holistic therapies such as acupuncture and individualized wellness coaching programs. The center's spa services employ natural products, some of which arrive directly from the kitchen or straight from the fields via teleportation chamber. Convenient take-home meals and a variety of events such as yoga classes and lessons in "uncooking" help patrons maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Every Friday and Saturday night, an insiders-only karaoke jam fills Dharma Garden's pastel-colored walls with music. During a recent visit by Time Out Chicago, the crowd—mostly comprised of staff members from other Thai restaurants—burst into applause as Dharma chef and owner Vilairait Junthong, AKA "Little Aunt," grabbed the mic to sing her favorite tune, Sirintra Niyakorn's "Roo Wa kao lhok," which roughly translates to "You Treat Me Wrong".
In the more than ten years since arriving in Chicago from her hometown of Prajinburi, Little Aunt has done more than just bulk up Dharma's Thai menu. Chicago Thai restaurants Sticky and Spoon Thai have called on Junthong to outfit their menus with Northern Thai specialties such as marinated beef jerky and Chinese-influenced rice soup. She's also stayed true to a no-land-animals pledge––one reason of many why Time Out Chicago has named Dharma Garden a Critics' Pick.
Beneath the dining room's spherical hanging lights, curries and stir-fried noodles stack with veggies such as baby bok choy and chinese broccoli, as well as seafood, shrimp, and imitation meats. Already boasting one of the city's largest vegetarian menus, chefs can also alter most of their other dishes to accommodate vegans and vegetarians upon request. After finishing off a deep-fried red snapper, patrons can peruse the Thai-language menu, or request a translation into other languages such as German, Latin, and Binary.

Carole Jones had been accustomed to eating a diet of rich, processed foods all her life. But when she lost her husband to cancer, she felt that if she continued to treat her body in the same way, her life too would be cut short. This inspired her to seek out new ways of living, which in turn led to her discovery of the raw-food diet. After switching her eating habits to organic, raw fruits and vegetables, she shed 50 pounds and began to feel better. She soon found a kindred spirit in Polly Gaza, a health aficionado who had also lost loved ones to cancer, and together they opened Raw to help others change the way they eat.
Here, the chefs convert organic ingredients into a menu of fully uncooked dishes, eschewing processed foods and emphasizing high levels of nutrients. They whip up plates of mediterranean falafel, collard burritos, and the Sprouted Living salad alongside raw versions of comfort foods, such as garden burgers and spaghetti with meatballs. Helpings of tuna pâte smear onto bavarian sunflower bread, which guests can wash down with fresh smoothies and juices, including wheatgrass juice and Raw’s signature grapefruit spirulina. An expansive list of uncooked desserts awaits to cap off meals, offering bites of silky orange truffles, raw granola, and tiramisu.

According to Time Out Chicago Susan Thompson created Mana Food Bar to fix Chicago's lack of inexpensive and creative vegetarian restaurants. And did she ever. With the help of Chef Jill Barron, the restaurant's bounty of flavorful vegetarian meals have caught the eye of Zagat, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. Inside the softly lit space, housemade pickles and hummus served with veggies offer a cool contrast to dishes of baked goat cheese and Mana sliders, the restaurant's namesake portobello-based burgers that were named one of the 40 Reasons to Love Chicago by Chicago magazine. Those with vegan and gluten-free preferences can also enjoy many of Mana's globally inspired entrees, as most are made from vegetables, grains, and fruit. Decorated almost entirely in recycled materials, the long, narrow dining room seats an intimate handful of parties at a dark wood bar and opens to a covered outdoor patio during the warmer seasons.

Groupon Guide

In 1985, Gene Baur went on a cross-country road trip. But his highlights weren’t the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone. Instead his route ran through places overlooked by most: stockyards, slaughterhouses, and farms.
“I saw the proliferation of factory farms—the mass raising of animals for food,” Baur said, “and was appalled at the animal cruelty inherent in these places.” Those images were powerful, and Baur became vegan, a lifestyle of abstaining from animal products. One year later he co-founded Farm Sanctuary, a nonprofit organization that rescues and raises awareness about farm animals.
Recently, he visited Chicago for Farm Sanctuary’s Walk for Farm Animals, an annual series of fundraising and awareness-raising events across the country and in Canada. While in town, he took some time to dine at some popular vegan spots, including the new-ish Upton’s Breakroom (2054 W. Grand Ave.), and the Chicago Diner (3411 N. Halsted St.), a “perennial favorite” of his that “continues to make vegan food hip and easily accessible in Chicago."
Below, Baur shares his top go-to meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that anyone—vegan or not—can easily make and enjoy.
BREAKFAST
1. A green smoothie with kale, spinach, bananas, blueberries, and flax seeds with water and/or nondairy milk. “It is healthy, quick, and easy.”
2. Scrambled tofu with hash browns. “On lazy weekend mornings, it’s sometimes nice to enjoy a leisurely, ‘stick to your ribs’ breakfast.”
3. Raw oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, and soy milk. “This one is also quick and easy. And it is filling and healthy! The nourishment stays with you for hours.”
LUNCH
1. Arugula salad with tofu, tempeh, or beans (or sometimes all three!) topped with avocado, sunflower seeds, sesame sticks, and balsamic vinegar. “It is healthy, can be prepared quickly, and provides a good deal of protein to boot.”
2. Hummus and tabouli with bread. “This is my go to meal when I am really in a hurry. And it tastes great!”
3. A tempeh or baked tofu sandwich with tomatoes and greens, along with some broiled brussels sprouts with a touch of salt and olive oil. “It is really filling, and brussels sprouts are amazing.”
DINNER
1. Root-vegetable stew over brown rice. “This is a warm, hearty meal that I love to eat when it is cold outside. And, with root vegetables, you can use the whole plant, from roots to greens. Those beet greens usually find their way into my morning smoothie.”
2. Portabella mushrooms with onions and broccoli over pasta. “I love the rich taste of portabella mushrooms. They add heartiness to the pasta, while the veggies add color, texture, taste, and fiber.”
3. Quinoa salad with beans, peppers, and veggies. “This is a balanced meal with veggies and protein-rich quinoa. It’s light tasting but really fills you up.”
Photo courtesy of Farm Sanctuary

How do you find Chicago's most Chicago restaurant? You begin by taking the world's best decision-making device: the bracket. Then you combine it with Chicago's best device to represent its messy, opinionated landscape: the ward map. Some have called this pursuit "patently absurd." We humbly disagree. By taking our logic above (bracket + ward map) and extrapolating it into a larger, totally airtight algorithm, our computers have found a winner for the title of Chicago's most Chicago restaurant. See the finalists and read more about the search here. Below is one of the finalists.
Gabrielle Darvassy was tired. Tired of the grind her 20 years in a corporate job subjected her to. Tired of the homogenous food options in her adopted neighborhood. Tired of having to make the trek to the other side of the Loop to procure any kind of quality goods and services.
Looking back, the layoff from her 9-to-5 seems to be a blessing in disguise. “People have to like what they’re doing, and they have to feel fulfilled,” Gabrielle is fond of saying. She began selling nutrient-packed smoothies at the 61st Street Farmers Market, and soon, together with her husband, she opened up B’Gabs Goodies (6100 S. Blackstone Ave.), a raw vegan eatery, on a quiet stretch on the border of Hyde Park and Woodlawn. Not the first place someone would think to serve food that’s been made with absolutely no animal products (not even butter!) nor heated to above 104 degrees.
Doing this helped put Gabrielle’s beliefs about food to the test. When she talks about food, she uses the word love, a lot. Food, she says, gives the body energy, but the people who make it also imbue it with energy. “If the people who make it and bring it to you aren’t in love with it, it’s not going to be good for you.” To that end, she procures all her produce from one vendor, who she knows loves what they do. “So everything we make from beginning to end is lovely. I’m not about to put in that type of work [without love]. I did that for 20 years.”
A commitment to the neighborhood
Gabrielle and her husband live in Hyde Park, where he grew up. Their home is close to the border of Woodlawn, which is known as one of the city’s “food deserts,” meaning it’s a trek to a good grocery store or any other source of unprocessed whole foods. And though Hyde Park, as the home of the prestigious University of Chicago (and our current president), holds considerably more options than Woodlawn, they’re not necessarily healthful ones. At least, not by her standards, which—besides vegan fare—include foods made without soy or gluten.
Noting how reluctant business owners were to invest in her neighborhood, Gabrielle decided to keep her endeavor close to home. Though she knew she would be more profitable north of the Loop, it was important to her to show faith in her community, knowing that, just as she has to make the drive up north for certain things, Northsiders would make the drive south, if what she was doing was viable. “If you want your community to be better, you have to do the work in your community,” she says.
A community that keeps coming back
On our visit, we almost drove right past B’Gabs Goodies’ door. It shares the block with what looks like a warehouse on one side of the street and an empty industrial lot on the other. The address on its Facebook page adds the parenthetical “(green door)” after the address, the tiniest clue to locating it.
“People find us by word of mouth,” Gabrielle tells me, once I’ve found my way in. “They feel like it’s a vegan speakeasy.” In fact, the only publicity they’ve ever done since they opened in 2011 has been running a Groupon and doing stories with any interested publications.
And yet, they have a loyal following, which Gabrielle calls “small but mighty” and is growing exponentially. Two U of C students chatted at a table next to us, recognizing a former professor who walked through the doors. Four women came in and out for a to-go order. A father and son shared a meal as we left. “I love this place!” the boy proclaimed—to everyone. And all the while, the staff hustled to get a catering order prepped for a community photography show next door.
Perhaps one of the best examples of the love they’ve engendered in the community is the gleaming—and pricey—Norwalk juicer a customer gifted to them. “It’s magic,” Gabrielle says.
Vegan delicious
B’Gabs Goodies’ prep “kitchen” is an approximately 3-foot-long stainless-steel counter in a nook behind the cash register. They prepare food without heat, which is believed to break down the nutrients and good energy in food. It’s basically cooking without cooking.
I must admit, learning this gave me some trepidation. My previous experience with raw vegan food was similar to that of any lifetime carnivore: my meal was so bland I barely remember it. The menu at B’Gabs left me stumped: tacos made with seeded nacho “meat,” pad thai salad with zucchini and carrot “noodles,” jicama “fries.” As someone who’s averse to many processed foods, I’m naturally suspicious of any food whose name is in quotation marks. So I approached this from a culinary standpoint, sampling the cuisine the way I would any that I hadn’t much experience with.
I opted for the classic burger.
Gabrielle shuns all soy products, as well as fake meats such as seitan, because she, and many of her customers, are suspicious of GMOs. While I was expecting a one-note dish, this burger turned out to be a medley of flavors. The crisp onion “bread” was balanced by a savory seed patty and brightly flavored housemade ketchup. A pile of kale filled the rest of the plate, its bitterness ameliorated by the sweet tang of the accompanying dressing. To wash it all down, I chose the Fiji Hammer Time smoothie: peaches, strawberries, and bananas, boosted with maca root and yohimbe bark.
I’d walked into B’Gabs feeling a little run down, tired or perhaps coming down with a cold. I left, literally, with a skip in my step, so energized that I almost forgot to pay for my meal. A slight buzz rang through my body—was it the seeds? The yohimbe? The Norwalk juicer’s magic?
No matter; it was the richest vegan meal I have ever tasted.
Teaching someone to fish
Gabrielle’s mission is not only to provide healthy food for people in her community, but also to create lasting changes in the way they eat. “The only way to do that—regardless of economics—is to teach them how,” she says. To that end, she and her staff teach “uncooking” classes and workshops, helping people incorporate raw foods in their diets.
They also dedicate half the space to a herb and spice shop, with more than 300 varieties of plants, all lovingly sourced. They all have healing properties, if that’s your thing, which Gabrielle believes doubles down on the nourishment her food provides. Most of the herbs and spices are packaged, if not harvested, by staff, and all were selected because, not only do they make food taste better, but they’re also known to have some kind of effect on health. The yohimbe bark in my smoothie is believed to ease depression—and improve the libido (rawr)!
“A lot of people come to me when they’re sick and have exhausted all options,” Gabrielle says. Or, as the restaurant’s motto states: “It’s not the food in your life, it’s the life in your food.”
Photos by Timothy Burkhart, Groupon

The name Mayim Bialik is closely associated with two beloved TV show characters: Blossom, her breakout 1990s sitcom role, and Amy Farrah Fowler, the neurobiologist from the hit show The Big Bang Theory.
But Bialik is much more than a SAG- and Emmy-nominated actress. She is also a real-life neuroscientist, writer, and founding member of the Shamayim V'Aretz Institute, a center for Jewish spirituality that promotes kosher veganism.
As a vocal vegan and a busy cook to her two kids, it only seems natural that Bialik add cookbook author to her résumé. Her latest endeavor, Mayim's Vegan Table: More than 100 Great-Tasting and Healthy Recipes from My Family to Yours, is a collaborative effort with pediatrician Dr. Jay Gordon that shares tips on adopting healthier eating habits, and a slew of recipes including french toast, winter-vegetable risotto, and dark-chocolate peanut-butter pie.
We caught up with Bialik to discuss veganism, her recently published cookbook, and what she would cook Blossom and Six for dinner.
GROUPON: When did you become vegan? Why is leading a vegan lifestyle important to you?
MAYIM BIALIK: I have been vegetarian for almost 20 years and have slowly transitioned to totally vegan, which finished about 6 years ago. It started because I loved animals and didn't want to eat them, but after doing more research and learning about the environmental, ethical, political, and nutritional and health benefits of vegan living, I have transitioned happily and completely!
G: Your book is filled with such useful, practical information that could help people live happier, healthier lives. What are some easy dietary tips to send people down the right path?
MB: Don't try and change everything overnight. It’s okay—and wise!—to take it slow. Learn about ways to eat foods that are plant-based once in a while. Don't imagine that any change is easy. If you were to try and cut out salt, for example, everything would taste funny for a while. It's no different in teaching your palate to adjust to non-animal-based protein sources, but it's not impossible! Also, find foods you like that happen to not have much meat or dairy, and that's a good place to start in exploring more veggie options. Examples are pastas, salads, and a lot of Asian-inspired cuisine.
G: In your cookbook, you write that your kids have been raised entirely vegan. Some kids can be notoriously picky eaters, so what are some of your go-to meals for kids?
MB: Even vegan kids get picky sometimes! My kids like anything wrapped in a tortilla and anything they can dip in ketchup or any fun dressing. I also learned, with Dr. Jay Gordon's help which we share in the book, how to not make food a battlefield and learn what my kids need so we have less stress about their pickiness, which of course is normal at certain stages and with certain kinds of kids!
G: What are your favorite snacks to refuel during long days shooting The Big Bang Theory?
MB: I eat fruit as much as I can, with a scoop of peanut butter for protein and energy. I like guacamole and chips because that's a good snack on set. And I won't lie, I love barbecue potato chips when I need some comfort food!
G: Blossom and Six are coming over for dinner Friday night. What would you cook for them?
MB: Ha! I think Blossom and Six would like baked ziti, which I have the recipe for in my book. Teenagers like hearty meals for the most part, and that's a really rich flavor that you can even eat right out of the fridge for leftovers, which is super important for teenagers!
Below, Mayim Bialik shares an easy-to-follow recipe from her cookbook for Mac N Cheez.
Mac N Cheez
What you need:
16-ounce package of pasta, such as farfalle, rigatoni, penne, shells, or large macaroni
1 1/4 cups nondairy milk (almond milk works best)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or white or brown rice flour
8-ounce bag of shredded vegan cheese, preferably mozzarella or cheddar
1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)
What you do:
1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain when al dente and place in a large bowl.
2. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
3. Heat 1 cup of the nondairy milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
4. In a cup, whisk the flour into the remaining 1/4 cup of milk until dissolved. Add it slowly to the heated milk, whisking as you go. Add the shredded vegan cheese and stir constantly until the cheese is dissolved and the sauce is bubbly, about 5 minutes. Pour over the pasta mixture and stir to combine. If desired, place the pasta in a 9”x13” casserole dish and cover with the bread crumbs. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Uncover and broil until browned on top, about 5 minutes.
Serves 8
Recipe and book photos reprinted courtesy of Da Capo Lifelong Books. Head shot photo credit: JSquared Photography.